San Diego Symphony

When the San Diego Symphony’s CEO Ward Gill got up on stage Friday before the orchestra’s season-opening concert to tout the extensive renovation of Symphony Hall’s lobbies, and someone up in the balcony booed, you knew something was a little off.

Did they object to the lighter color palette? Or perhaps it was a teetotaler offended by the local microbrews on tap in the hall’s four new bars. The response was markedly different from last year’s season opener, when Gill announced the expansion of the hall’s restrooms, which drew a hearty round of applause.

Fortunately, the response to the orchestra’s music was considerably more enthusiastic, even if the performances also sounded just a bit off.

The program included Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 and the premiere of David Bruce’s “Night Parade,” both pieces the orchestra will play in Carnegie Hall on Oct. 29.

It also performed Barber’s Violin Concerto with violinist Augustin Hadelich, a work it will play on its China tour with Hadelich in early November. (Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Lang Lang as soloist will anchor the Carnegie program.)

Music director Jahja Ling and the orchestra are to be commended for commissioning a new work for Carnegie (courtesy of Sam Ersan and Gordon Brodfuehrer) and for the program’s focus on 20th century works.

But there’s work to be done. The new piece by Bruce is an appealing, propulsive orchestral showcase that at times sounds like Philip Glass meets Quincy Jones in its repetitive figurations and its occasional jazz licks.

The composer likens it to a thrill ride at an amusement park, where there’s always a sense of danger but nobody gets hurt. That aura of excitement, of pushing things to the edge, was largely absent in this first performance, as was the absolute precision this music needs to come across. Everything sounded a bit soft and fuzzy, kind of like taking a thrill ride in a beanbag chair. It needed a little more edge, a little more danger.

Barber’s Violin Concerto also failed to ignite, except for the final movement. The balance between Hadelich and the orchestra was too much in favor of the orchestra, and soloist and conductor weren’t always in agreement. The interpretation sounded forced.

The Prokofiev symphony fared better, and the general outlines of this exuberant work were convincing. But there were plenty of interpretive and technical details that need to be addressed, including a greater sense of contrast between the sections of relative repose and the more demonstrative passages.

It’s those quiet moments that allow the more forceful ones to have a greater impact. Ling, however, tended to favor the big moments. A more balanced approach might have given the piece greater depth and dimension.

Still, the orchestra is just back from break. All this program needs is practice, practice, practice (or, playing, playing, playing) to be ready for Carnegie Hall.